


drifting homes and dancing stars

by musicaldaydreamer



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones, Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, More characters to come, This crossover wouldn't leave me alone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-26 01:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10776801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicaldaydreamer/pseuds/musicaldaydreamer





	drifting homes and dancing stars

Megan Parry was having a tiring day.

It began, as they so often did these days, with Neil and Mari. She'd heard a high squeal from the yard, and bolted out the door to find Mari on the ground crying, bicycle beside her, and Neil trying to help her up, which she was refusing. From the fragments of sentences her children gave her, she gathered that Neil had been practicing basketball and a rogue throw had met Mari, who was just returning from a bike ride. Once it was established that Mari was unhurt, Megan gave them both few brief words of admonishment to look where they're throwing and going, and she went back into the house to finish watching the dishes. She calmed slightly, but the fear she'd felt when she heard that scream was hard to shake off.

Still, the day improved. Megan finished the dishes and made lunch, and by the time they all finished eating Mari was speaking to Neil again.

Unfortunately, about an hour after they finished lunch, her brother arrived, and that was when Megan thought she may as well give the day up for a lost cause.  
It wasn't that she disliked Howell, exactly. She knew quite well that he was clever, and he was certainly a good uncle to her children when he did show up. And although she had only met the boy twice, Howell did seem to be an excellent father as well. Megan's respect for her brother had gone up considerably since she learned he had become a father. But he was still exhausting to be around, vain as the day was long, and frustratingly flighty. So when he turned up at her door, wearing that same old atrocious rugby jacket- even now that he was married, he refused to neaten up, the slob- she felt her frustration surfacing.

"Howell?"  
But before he could answer, a small boy of about six burst inside, squealing. Megan hastened to get out of the way as his pursuer followed, a pretty redheaded woman. She caught him just inside the door, grabbing his shoulder while Howell watched, laughing.

"Morgan, that's enough, now put on your socks!" The woman looked severely at her son, and the boy laughed, but accepted the socks she held out to him.

"Afternoon, Megan, Morgan was just saying how he missed his big cousins, so I thought we would make a day trip of it. You remember Sophie?" Howell gestured to his wife, who was standing back up after crouching to give Morgan his socks.

"Of course," Megan said politely, and held out her hand. Sophie shook it, smiling nervously.  
Morgan turned to his aunt, and the smile he gave her made Megan quite sure that he was taking lessons from his father. "Hi, Aunt Megan!"

Megan smiled faintly back at him. "Hello, Morgan. You've grown! Neil and Mari are upstairs, if you like. Sophie, do you remember where the sitting room is?"

"Oh, yes," Sophie nodded, taking her son's hand. "Come on, let's go find them." They hurried up the stairs- Sophie seemed quite pleased at the excuse- as Megan turned to her brother.

"Have you ever heard of the telephone?" 

Howell closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "It was a last-minute trip. And you were all here, so no harm, no foul. Gareth still at work?"

"Of course he is, it's the middle of the day." Then, supposing she should at least try to be more patient, Megan added "Have you been well?"

"Oh, just dandy," Howl smiled. "Morgan's top of his class. How's the family?"

"Recovering," Megan replied. "We've been up in Goldcliff on holiday. Neil loved it, but he's been a bit of trouble since we got back. Has work been steady?"

Howell smirked. "Megan, if you're afraid I'm going to up and quit, you shouldn't worry, I'm quite happy where I am, and anyway Sophie would kill me- Sophie!" His expression brightened at something behind Megan and she turned to see Sophie on the stairs. 

"Howl, can you come up here a moment?" she asked him. 

"Of course. We'll just be a moment, Megan," Howell agreed, nodding to her. But Megan followed the pair, thinking that she should go up anyway to see if Mari had her homework finished before she watched TV. Howell and his wife hurried ahead, talking in quiet tones, and Megan wondered idly if Morgan had done something to make his mother come down. 

When they reached the top of the stairs, however, no sign of misbehaviour met Megan. Mari was sitting in front of the television, watching some concert or other, and Neil was in the corner reading, Morgan leaning up beside him and poking at the book curiously. Howell and Sophie weren't even watching him; their eyes were glued to the television, Sophie pointing at something on it.

"Have you finished your homework, Mari?" Megan asked loudly. 

"Almost, this is nearly done and then I'll finish." Mari answered, not turning around. She was quite as enthralled by the concert as Howell and Sophie seemed to be. 

"You know the rules, Mari, homework first." She went to press a button on the screen but Howell held out a hand.  
"Just a minute, Megan, I need to see this." 

With a loud "Hmph!" Megan stepped back. Trust Howell to pretend to be interested just to keep Mari from getting punished. 

Sophie, however, did not seem to be pretending. "See?" She pointed more insistently at the screen. "Is this real, Howl?"

"Remarkable. I have no idea." He prodded Mari's shoulder. "Mari, what is this program? Who are they?" He gestured at the dancing teenagers on the screen, although as he was standing behind Mari she couldn't see it.

"That's µ's. They're from Japan, but they're in America right now, doing a promotion." She pointed. "They won a competition last year, Love Live."

Megan stared, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Mari, homework! Uncle Howell can hear about the singers another time."

But Howell turned around to face her. "It would be helpful to get the basics now, actually. Have you ever heard of this group?"

"Probably, she follows so many of them. Are you telling me you actually like this music?"

"It's ingenious," Howl nodded. "Neil, can you lend me your computer for a minute?"

"It's in my room," Neil said, and went back to reading with Morgan.

Megan watched as her brother raced out of the sitting room and Sophie sat down next to Mari, talking seriously about what they were watching. Neil at least seemed to be doing well with Morgan; Megan could hear him reading quietly to his little cousin, and smiled. 

Ten minutes later, Howell returned, clutching a sheet of paper. "Well thanks for having us, Megan, but we have to run." He sat down and hugged Mari, who at last took her eyes off the screen to hug her uncle, and strode over to give Neil a high five. 

He had been there less than an hour, but Megan was not going to point that out to her brother. Instead she waved as he and his family, five minutes later, walked out the door, with Morgan still whining protests.  
When they'd gone, Megan rested her head against the wall. The cool felt nice against her skin, and she stayed that way until remembering that Mari still needed to finish her homework. So she climbed the stairs again, and sure enough, both of her children were exactly where they'd been when she left them. 

"They gone?" Neil asked when he noticed his mother.

"Yes. Mari, homework." This time she really did shut off the television. Mari grumbled, but stood up anyway.

"That little Morgan is cute." Neil commented.

"I like Aunt Sophie. I wish Uncle Howell would visit more." 

"Well, I'm sure he's busy," Megan shrugged. "Did Sophie like your show too?"

"Yeah!" Mari beamed. "She said it was a charm." She disappeared from the room, returning with a glittering pink knapsack.

Megan smiled a bit. "I think she meant it was charming." 

Once she saw that Mari was settled on her homework, she climbed back downstairs and felt her spirits lighten. She'd gotten off easy with this visit, really, her brother and his family weren't so bad... in small doses....


End file.
